There’s nothing like spending the day “working” at a science center in Pittsburgh. It is also nice to get done that work (which was actually a seminar) early to check out the center itself. The Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pa has tons of great hands on science stuff for all ages. There I was able to build and launch miniature rockets, build and test atomic structures, see the stars, become a TV meteorologist, and even step aboard a once active U.S. submarine. That was one of the neatest things we did. I’ll tell you one thing, I thought my freshman year at college was cramped, to live on such a marine vehicle is pretty much giving up every right you ever had to be comfortable. And the valves! My goodness the valves! There were knobs and wheels and switches all over the place controlling everything from air flow to fluid flow to every other flow known to man. How fifty-one men could operate such a vessel and live on thing is beyond me.

Another cool thing that was “test drive-able” was the earthquake simulator. You sit down in the thing like you’re at a diner in California and you select what Richter scale magnitude earthquake you want to experience. Never having experienced an earthquake before, let alone one that measures 7.1 on the Richter scale, I found it quite uncomfortable. The nice thing with the simulator was when I was sick of the shaking I just walked off. In the real world, it boggles my mind that just walking off is NOT an option.